Sad Memories, Happy Moments
by NorthernLlamas
Summary: Dr. Angela Ziegler, code named Mercy, has dealt with the loss of many loved ones. But when the chance to rekindle with her lost love presents itself, will she keep it hidden from others or will her love for the enemy prove to be more powerful than fear? The fate of the newly reborn Overwatch hangs in the balance.
1. Sad Memories, Happy Moments

The sun sank below the trees and an orange glow swept over the ground. The heat from the day slowly dissipated into the cool autumn night. Sitting on a bench in a park near the Overwatch command center, with autumn leaves falling around her, Dr. Angela Ziegler stared out into the distance after the arduous day she had at work. Her hair swept across her eyes as the wind started to turn bitterly chill, but still she sat there, encompassed in her thoughts. Her hair stood up as a feeling, faintly familiar yet completely strange, knocked her out of her thoughts. She shut her eyes for a brief moment, mentally preparing herself, then she slowly exhaled and turned her head to come face to face with the mask of Overwatch's most bitter enemy.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, voice calm and controlled.

The masked mercenary remained still and silent, the dark eyes of the mask seemed to peer into her soul.

She stood up and walked the short distance around the bench to stand at his side. They stood there, silent, as if awaiting for a ghostly specter to appear and send them both tumbling back into their memories of the days before. She was not scared, or anxious, or even mad at the man before her; after all, he was her friend in her mind. She peered at him, the sadness in her eyes was magnified by the icy blue color of them.

"I only ask because you should not be here. It isn't safe." She muttered more to herself than to the silent man before her. His head shifted slightly, the only indication of him listening to her.

They stood once more in silence, till Angela spoke up "Reap-, no, I refuse to call you that. It makes you seem like you have truly died and I cannot accept that." Her eyes watered slightly at the memories of that dreadful time when she almost lost him.

"I missed you. Why is it that it took you this long to come back? Why?" Angela fought the rising lump in her throat, all the emotions she had kept in check for _so long_ threatened to bubble over and send her into hysterics. At the lack of response, she could only think of the worst; that she had truly lost him to the darkness that consumed him.

Then he suddenly spoke up. "I had to gather my resolve and my strength before I could even think to approach you." He finally turned his mask to face her.

"You… are special to me. And I…" His voice trailed off and his mask faced the ground, almost in embarrassment. Angela stood there unsure of how to _react- process_ this even, one lone stray thought floated through her mind and she followed it without hesitation. She hesitantly raised her hands, he made no move to stop her so she continued until her hands rested on the sides of the mask. She looked once more into his eyes and slowly removed his mask, just to see if the man she remembered was still there beneath the mask. Slowly the chin became visible, then the cheeks, then at last his eyes. They were more beautiful then she remembered- as time aged them like two crystals kept hidden from the surface.

"Gabriel…" Angela breathed as she took in his appearance, slowly setting the mask on the bench.

Their eyes never left the other's, and time seemed to stand still. It was like the world froze and they were the only two left standing, just them, together in eternal bliss. They slowly leaned into each other, letting the world fall away. Just as there lips were about to meet, a set of footsteps sounded from the path and just as quickly as the moment had come, it flew away. Smoke surrounded the two's feet and Gabriel adorned his mask once again. The air became thick with tension as the enemy of Overwatch, Reaper, stood at his full height against the oncoming person. Angela gently placed her hand on his forearm and just like that, Reaper and Gabriel were gone in a wisp of smoke, leaving her standing alone. As soon as he disappeared, Lena and Jack both appeared farther down the path.

"Hello Love! What are you doing out here? It's getting bloody freezing out here." Lena asked as they got closer to her.

She turned slowly to the others and gathered herself. She felt as if her whole world plummeted back into an abyss all over again. With a throat tight with emotion she responded, "Just getting a breath of fresh air, what are you two doing out here?" Her words and voice betraying how she really felt. Jack stared at her and she felt as though he somehow knew what had just- what had _almost-_ happened, though he remained silent.

"If you're done getting some cold air in your lungs, wanna head back with 76 and I?" Lena asked, smiling wide and kind.

Angela smiled kindly, and nodded; feeling happy that she had such good people she could call her friends. "I would love to."

The trio began their walk to the barracks, Lena chatting the whole way, jumping from one topic to the next seemingly without pause. Jack and Angela hung back a bit, letting the younger girl walk ahead and talk aimlessly. The silence between them made Angela feel unsure if Jack knew what had happened just mere moments before. She struggled to figure out if she should ask whether or not he saw.

"Did you see?" She mumbled. Her eyes never glancing over or even acknowledging who she was speaking to.

"See what?" Their eyes glanced to the other's knowingly and a small, barely there smirk, adorned his face. She smiled to the ground. Now her secret was not just her own, her friend knew and trusted her enough to keep it hidden with her- to bear the burden together.

"...And so I said to him, 'there's nothing going on'. Oh the woes of forbidden love am I right? I mean, I was only sixteen when it happened and I had no idea what to do. But I loved him like only a woman in my situation could. I hid things and after awhile of brief get togethers, the desire to be together more got so strong that I just couldn't not be with him. So I considered running away with him- but of course I didn't haha! The opportunity for my dreams of being a pilot were coming true and he left me. But I learned a very important lesson that day and you wanna know what that was?" Lena turned to the other two who were now listening very intently to her story. Lena smiled and continued, "I learned that I couldn't have been made happier then I was when I was with him at that time. We were happy and that happiness couldn't be traded in for anything. If there were ever two people with some sort of forbidden love right now, I would tell them to live it out, be happy, and have no regrets." Lena smiled at Angela knowingly.

Angela was at first taken aback by the wise words but she quickly smiled. "I think that's great advice for someone to follow." Lena cracked a wide, toothy grin.

"You think so? Maybe I should quit overwatch and become an inspirational speaker!" Lena laughed loudly.

"I wouldn't go that far." Jack spoke up, dragging an indignant squawk from Lena. A small, humorous argument broke between those two and it had Angela laughing all the way back to the barracks. But when she glanced behind her shoulder, she swore she saw a wisp of black smoke disappearing into the tree line.


	2. Secret Meetings

In the barracks at the Overwatch command center, Angela was cleaning her bag of all the bloodied and pus filled gauze pads and equipment. The mechanical hum of the air conditioning setting a soothing rhythm that lulled her into a light snooze. With her body and mind exhausted by the day's events, she didn't hear the door open and close lightly, or the presence of the one she had met only hours beforehand.

It wasn't until his hand laid gently on her shoulder that she was startled awake. She jumped up and put a scalpel to his neck. He gently laid his hand over hers, the tension in her arm slowly seeped out as she realized who it was.

"You shouldn't do that." She said, a small smile lighting up her face. In her mind, she thought she had scared him away or that somehow they would never see each other again, yet here he was standing right there before her.

"There are worse ways to be woken up." Gabriel muttered quietly as he slowly inched closer to her.

She smiled at the blatant want he showed for getting closer to her. "Why are you still wearing that stupid mask? You know you don't need to around me."

He shrugged, "It's a force of habit to wear it around everyone I guess." He gently looped his arms around her waist and held her close, an action that was so achingly familiar but so strange at the same time. She brought her hands up to, again, take off the mask. Their bodies pressed together in what would, at first glance, look sexual but upon further inspection looks protective and loving. Angela removed the mask with more confidence this time. She laid the mask on her bed and looked deep into his dark eyes; eyes that held nothing but affection in them.

His mouth curled into a warm smile and with that action, one that was so familiar and loving, they met in the middle. Neither knew who first leant in, but they soon found themselves falling into a long, breathless kiss as they both rediscovered the depths of the other's mouth. The kiss was not one of passion or sexual desires, but of rediscovery, love and complete trust.

Angela wrapped her arms around the other's neck and gripped his hair, pulling him in. She had missed him so much, more than she thought was possible. To be here now, in his arms again… it was more than she had ever dreamed. They separated only because the need for oxygen became too great. They panted slightly, looking into each other's eyes once more before moving to kiss again.

Just as their lips met again, the feeling sweeping back into them as they clung to each other desperately, the door swung open.

"Hey Mercy! We have a patient who is having a seizure in the restroom!" One of the medical assistants yelled from the doorway.

"I'll be there immediately. Watch the patient while I gather the equipment." Angela spoke quickly and with an authoritative voice. The medic nodded and hurried from the room. As soon as the door had swung open, Gabriel disappeared. She stood there for a moment, gathering herself. Her eyes landed on his mask lying innocently on her bed. With a quick sweep of her hand, she managed to hide it under her pillow and she thought back to the kiss they had a few moments prior. The kiss was intense. It was a mix of emotions that both confused and satisfied her every desire. She no longer felt like a shell of the woman she once was. She felt happy for once.

With these thoughts in mind, she gathered her equipment and hurried out of the room.


End file.
